We often go through hard and difficult times in our lives, and we want God to intervene in those times to help us.
However, it seems that He does not because things do not improve, or even seem to get worse.
Today, I would like us to reflect on this idea.
Let us reflect on the mysterious way God sometimes does things.
Mysterious because He often doesn’t do things the way we expect him to.
The story I would like to reflect on is the story of the people of Israel when God sends Moses to Pharaoh to ask him to let the people go and worship him in the wilderness.
An account of the story would be that, the people of Israel were slaves in Egypt, suffering abuse by that nation.
During those years, the people begin to desperately ask God to set them free.
God hears their cry and decides to send Moses to take care of the matter.
However, when Moses communicates God’s demands to Pharaoh, Pharaoh reacts by ruthlessly aggravating the Israelites’ workload and thus increasing their suffering and affliction.
The situation becomes so tense and difficult for the people of Israel that we read Moses express the following words:
Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people?
Is this why you sent me?
Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.”
Exodus 5:22-23
It seemed unthinkable that God’s intervention on behalf of his people would trigger misfortune in their situation.
However, that is exactly what we see here.
Taking this biblical precedent as a resource, we can conclude that, among the ways God operates to help us, this event is also possible for us.
Moses could not see the future in the way God could, and therefore did not understand what God was doing.
With God’s help, everything was supposed to get better.
However, that wasn’t happening.
What Moses’ anxiety didn’t allow him to see is that this was all part of the process that God wanted to lead the people through to get their deliverance.
That is, it was a necessary temporary situation within God’s plan for them.
It is common for believers to go through difficult times in which our faith and trust in the Lord weaken.
Even more so when crying out for help, things don’t seem to get better, or even get worse.
But what if, as with the people of Israel, God was working for good, not only in adversity but through it?
We all know the outcome of history, the Israelite people indisputably end up being liberated, God’s favor is such over them that they strip the Egyptians of their riches.
The burdensome burdens and temporary penalties cease when God’s plan is fully executed.
It is normal for our faint heart to come to doubt God’s love and faithfulness in the most difficult times.
However, let us not let that feeling strip us of the rational certainty that God loves us.
That God wants to help us, and that if we remain in His hands, we can trust that what we go through in the end will be for our good.
What do you think? Are you going through a difficult time in your life? What is your experience? Share in the comments.
